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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29051433">stars and crime</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/antlsepticeye/pseuds/antlsepticeye'>antlsepticeye</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>desirecomics's egoverse [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Jacksepticeye Power Hour (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Astrology, Astronomy, Banter, Bickering, Brotherly Love, Crime Fighting, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Hallucinations, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Stargazing, They're both so dumb, Triggers, and being like hello why did you bottle this up, both Very brief i promise, brief astrology at the start more astronomy at the end, but it's not in detail bc i'm a wuss, discussion of, god someone give marvin a hug, just jackie realizing one of marvin's triggers, oh my god it's the bffs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:54:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,327</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29051433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/antlsepticeye/pseuds/antlsepticeye</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“i wasn’t expecting to see you help me with patrol tonight.”</p><p>“can’t let my favorite hero be in constant danger.” marvin watches as jackie adjusts his hero suit, shoving his normal clothes into his backpack and tosses it into the hidden area that he always puts his backpack in.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jackieboy Man &amp; Marvin the Magnificent (Jacksepticeye Power Hour)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>desirecomics's egoverse [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118558</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>stars and crime</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello ! surprise !! [finger guns]</p><p>no art inspiration this time but this is yet again set in zoe's / desirecomics' egoverse because i am in Love with it and i've got marvin brainrot now LMAOOO</p><p>enjoy these bickering idiots!! god they care too much for each other</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>marvin hums to himself as he plays with his worry beads, leaning against the side of the emergency exit on the roof. he watches the sun fully set below the horizon, finding the different colors of the sky fascinating. </p><p> </p><p>he looks over when he hears the door slam open and chuckles quietly as someone stumbles onto the roof, watching as they pull off their backpack and rummage through it. marvin looks back over at the sunset, saying casually, “when did you start taking night classes, hero?”</p><p> </p><p>the person yelps and jumps back, staring at marvin with wide eyes before relaxing. “oh, for <em> fuck’s sake </em>, marvin!”</p><p> </p><p>“and i thought you were supposed to have a sense of the element of surprise, mister <em> i’m-like-spiderman </em>,” marvin teases, pushing himself off of the wall. “but honestly, jackie — when did night classes come in?”</p><p> </p><p>jackie sighs, running his hand through his hair before he slips on his eye mask. marvin beckons him over and when jackie’s by his side, he pulls him into a one armed hug as jackie mumbles, “just some extra interesting classes. nothing extraneous.”</p><p> </p><p>“honestly, you act like doing patrol alongside your classes is a breeze.”</p><p> </p><p>“it <em> is! </em>”</p><p> </p><p>“say that to henrik who’s already mildly concerned with how loudly you’re snoring,” marvin snorts, yelping when jackie shoves him playfully. “you also need to stop forgetting that you’re <em> stronger </em> than us!”</p><p><br/>
<br/>
“aw, little kitty cat got a booboo?” jackie winks at him. “how shall the big strong hero save you?”</p><p> </p><p>“by not being a narcissistic li’l shit,” marvin huffs, tweaking jackie’s nose and grinning widely when jackie whines in annoyance. “what’s wrong, hero? can’t handle the attention anymore?”</p><p> </p><p>“i’m literally <em> older </em> than you!” jackie grumbles as he shrugs off his jacket and pants, revealing his hero suit underneath. marvin pretends to look disgusted and jackie rolls his eyes, punching marvin’s shoulder lightly. “i wasn’t expecting to see you help me with patrol tonight.”</p><p> </p><p>“can’t let my favorite hero be in constant danger.” marvin watches as jackie adjusts his hero suit, shoving his normal clothes into his backpack and tosses it into the hidden area that he always puts his backpack in.</p><p> </p><p>“is it that, or is there something more?” jackie asks, turning to marvin with a raised eyebrow. even though jackie’s giving him a questioning glare, marvin can see the worry hidden in his eyes. “is there something i’m unaware of?”</p><p> </p><p>“no, no.” marvin shakes his head, waving his hand dismissively and ignoring the way that jackie narrows his eyes at him. “just… just the usual nightmares and paranoia. there’s nothing more to it than that, i promise.”</p><p> </p><p>jackie stares at him with a scrutinizing look in his eye, and marvin shifts nervously, adjusting his own mask as he looks away. it’s silent between the two of them before jackie finally sighs, pulling up his hood as he says, “you know, there’s a lunar eclipse tonight.”</p><p> </p><p>“yes, there is,” marvin says, immediately twisting his worry beads between his fingers. “i’m not looking forward to it.”</p><p> </p><p>“oh? i thought you were always one for astronomical and astrological events?”</p><p> </p><p>“lunar eclipses usually bring in abrupt and sudden changes. it resets everything and the shadow cast upon it reveals what our subconscious hides or what it refuses to let us see. its meaning provides good for others but forces one to let go and reveal their hidden emotions and ideologies and—” marvin pauses, wincing when he realizes he was rambling. “sorry.”</p><p> </p><p>“hey man, i asked you, don’t apologize for telling me,” jackie chuckles, patting marvin’s back. “you just like acting like a big grump and hate your emotions being revealed, i get it.”</p><p> </p><p>“oh, fuck off,” marvin groans, shrugging jackie’s hand off of him. “you’re <em> ridiculous </em>. besides, i’ve just… always had bad experiences with one. and i don’t know what it’ll bring this time, especially with … him.”</p><p> </p><p>jackie flinches at the reminder and marvin feels a bout of guilt settle in his chest. he doesn’t <em> mean </em> to bring up anti, directly or indirectly, but jackie always hated it when marvin wasn’t honest with him when he was able to do so. likewise, marvin hated lying to any of the others, but there were just things that he <em> couldn’t </em> let them all know. marvin sighs, letting go of the worry beads to take jackie’s hand in his. “it’s fine, i promise. i’m still willing to have that stargazing session we always do after your patrol.”</p><p> </p><p>jackie relaxes and he sends marvin a cheeky grin. “gonna stare at the stars with me like we’re star-crossed lovers?”</p><p> </p><p>“okay, you know what,” marvin groans without any malice in his tone. “could we just get onto your patrol now? i don’t want to hear your dumb little remarks anymore.”</p><p> </p><p>“you <em> love~ </em> me,” jackie teases, tweaking the nose of marvin’s mask, making marvin pretend to bite at his finger. he laughs and begins to back away, adding, “okay, okay. ready?”</p><p> </p><p>“if you jump off this roof <em> one more time </em>—”</p><p> </p><p>“let’s go, marvin!” </p><p> </p><p>marvin watches in disbelief as jackie does a backflip off of the roof and disappears from sight before he pops up again, floating in midair with a huge grin on his face. “come <em> on </em>, marvin!”</p><p> </p><p>“hen is going to <em> kill </em> you,” marvin warns as he goes over to jackie. “if he finds out you’re jumping off roofs and doing little gymnastic tricks again, he’s going to attempt to confine you to your room once more.”</p><p> </p><p>“henrik fails to realize i can break out of whatever locked room he puts me in,” jackie says cheekily, holding out his hand. “now, are you going to use your magic to get down or shall i take you down?”</p><p> </p><p>marvin hesitates, mulling over his options as he grabs his cloak and puts it on. he could fly down to the ground alongside jackie. he <em> could </em> also use his magic to get down, making little steps of playing cards to hop down from the building down to the ground. that sounded better — he could make it a little game with jackie, get marvin’s mind off of his worries. he steps up onto the ledge and waves his hand, smiling softly as little glowing steps of playing cards appear in front of him and descend down to the ground. it was a smaller spell, one that he can use without constantly worrying that anti would show up at any moment at the feeling of his magic. marvin steps onto one of the steps and grins at jackie, saying, “shall we race?”</p><p> </p><p>“cheeky kitty,” jackie grumbles, but he grins at him nonetheless. “ready?”</p><p> </p><p>marvin nods and leaps forward, gracefully landing on one of the steps on one foot before he leaps again. jackie lets out a playful shout before turning and flying down towards the ground, marvin laughing gleefully as he moves faster and takes faster leaps. he’s never been as fast as jackie when it came to these playful challenges, but it was nice to let go for a while, to feel the cool breeze through his hair and to see a bright smile on jackie’s face.</p><p> </p><p>he, of course, lands on the ground many seconds after jackie does — although jackie’s still very much floating above the ground rather than <em> standing </em> on it. jackie shoots him a grin, saying, “you’re getting faster at that.”</p><p> </p><p>“perhaps i’m the one gaining the superspeed,” marvin says dryly, making jackie roll his eyes. “i scour the alleyways and you search from above?”</p><p> </p><p>jackie gives him a thumbs up — this is what they usually do, whenever marvin helps out with jackie’s patrol. marvin always stayed low, blending in with the slow crowd of people in the evening to night time as jackie watched the city from above, focusing with his sharp sight and keen hearing for any potential danger.</p><p> </p><p>marvin watches as jackie flies back up to the top of the buildings, perching himself on a ledge to look over the city. marvin hums to himself and pulls up his hood, walking around the city and letting his gaze wander over everyone. he continuously glances into alleyways or peers into stores, checking to see if there was anyone who was hurt or in immediate danger, if it was something he could quickly deal with or if he should call down jackie.</p><p> </p><p>he pauses in front of an alleyway when something catches his eye, and he tilts his head curiously, furrowing his eyebrows. marvin squints, trying to figure out if he saw something or not, and he flinches when he sees a bright glint of green before it disappears just as quickly.</p><p> </p><p>marvin freezes, his eyes widening in realization.</p><p> </p><p><em> no </em>.</p><p> </p><p>no, no, <em> no </em> . he takes a deep breath, his hand subconsciously going to his beads. it’s just a trick that his mind is playing on him. anti isn’t here. he’s fine, and he’s safe, and he would’ve felt <em> something </em> if anti was truly there. </p><p> </p><p>marvin takes another deep breath before reaching out to jackie through their link. ‘<em> jackie? </em>’</p><p> </p><p>‘<em> yeah? what’s up, marv, find anything? </em>’</p><p> </p><p>‘<em> ... no. just checking in. </em>’</p><p> </p><p>it’s silent for a moment before jackie carefully says, ‘<em> are you sure? </em>’</p><p> </p><p>‘<em> yeah </em> — <em> yeah, i promise. </em>’</p><p> </p><p>‘... <em> alright. if that’s the case, i think that there may be some activity behind that shop that jamie likes to get ice cream from, </em> ’ jackie muses. ‘ <em> don’t teleport there, that exhausts you </em>.’</p><p> </p><p>marvin rolls his eyes and closes his eyes, concentrating before he feels a tug in his navel and he opens his eyes to see himself a couple feet away from the shop. he can hear jackie groan in his head, grumbling, ‘<em> and you complain about me and my backflips? </em>’</p><p> </p><p>‘<em> quite frankly, yours is a dangerous stunt and mine is something manifested by my magic </em> ,’ marvin snarks, peering around the corner and narrowing his eyes at the beginning of the commotion going on. he watches the scene carefully, humming, ‘ <em> robbery. </em>’</p><p> </p><p>‘<em> weapons? </em>’</p><p> </p><p>‘<em> guns, as far as i can see. </em>’</p><p> </p><p>‘<em> got it. </em>’</p><p> </p><p>marvin’s ears twitched at the sound of the sudden gust of wind, stepping aside and looking over to see jackie land next to him. it’s dark out now, and jackie’s eyes seem to glow an even brighter blue as he assesses the area. he glances over at marvin, carefully saying, “no magic?”</p><p> </p><p>“no magic.” marvin shakes his head, turning to jackie and fixating his gaze right at the bridge of his nose — eye contact <em> still </em>freaked him the fuck out, after… well. “i’ll help from behind.”</p><p> </p><p>jackie nods and when marvin blinks, jackie’s gone, marvin’s cloak fluttering slightly at how much speed jackie had used. marvin chuckles fondly and hides himself in the darkness of the nearby alleyway, watching the muggers carefully — <em> four of them </em> — as they shuffle out of the shop, murmuring with one another as they gesture with their guns. <em> honestly </em> , marvin thinks with disdain, <em> how obvious can you be, waving your gun around as if people can’t see you? </em></p><p> </p><p>there’s a yelp and marvin focuses once more as he watches jackie appear in front of them, swinging a punch and shoving another hard enough that they slam into the wall. marvin can’t help but wince sympathetically, back aching at the sight, but his gaze zeroes in on the mugger trying to sneak up behind jackie, a snarl building up in his throat.</p><p> </p><p>jackie is strong, yes, and by the gods does he have an awfully sharp sense for danger. but sometimes, <em> sometimes </em>, he gets too focused to notice.</p><p> </p><p>that, and marvin worries a lot. sue him.</p><p> </p><p>marvin still manages to be light on his feet, suddenly behind the mugger without making a sound before grabbing them in a chokehold. he grabs the wrist of the hand holding the gun, forcing them to fire it onto the ground, and marvin’s quick to disarm them and knock them out. </p><p> </p><p>it’s a bit of a blur after that — he never tends to be fully attentive and <em> aware </em> of his moves when fighting alongside jackie. they all just <em> happen </em> — it all felt natural to him, so he lets the feelings overtake him. but soon  jackie’s humming as he files an anonymous tip to the police before he turns to marvin with a grin. “ready for the next one?”</p><p> </p><p>marvin <em> loves </em> fighting next to jackie. it takes his mind off of other things since he’s so focused on simultaneously taking these people down and making sure that jackie isn’t getting hurt. jackie always teases him that he’s using jackie’s patrol as a way to keep up with his flexibility, but — and don’t tell jackie that he said this — honestly? he just enjoys being around jackie and watching him help others and do what he’s quite clearly passionate about.</p><p> </p><p>the night goes on with their playful banter and side-by-side fighting, henrik’s voice in the back of marvin’s mind as marvin imagines him scolding them for staying out so late. marvin rolls his eyes when jackie says a light-hearted insult to the person he’s got in a headlock, keeping his focus on the second person as he dodges sloppily thrown punches. easy work, nothing too difficult.</p><p> </p><p>but then, they pull out a knife, one that still has bits of dried blood on it (<em> honestly, the infections that can cause! </em> ) and marvin <em> freezes </em>.</p><p> </p><p>marvin <em> hates </em> this. he hates that there’s times that he can see a knife and not connect it with anti, understanding that it’s just a knife, not held by anti, not being aimed at his face or his neck. but there’s also times that he can catch a glimpse of the glint of a knife and immediately be struck with panic.</p><p> </p><p>“what, pretty kitty is scared of a knife?” the person laughs, and marvin blinks slowly, everything suddenly becomes muffled and blurry. the person’s face swims in and out of focus, morphing into anti’s, and marvin’s breath hitches as he stumbles back in surprise. </p><p> </p><p>there’s no way. <em> there’s no way </em> . this can’t be anti — <em> but he’s right there, isn’t he? </em> no, no, it’s only a mugger, a mugger with a knife, <em> a knife awfully similar to anti’s </em> — no, not like anti’s, anti’s had a strange jade-like handle.</p><p> </p><p>god, marvin feels <em> sick </em> . he feels disconnected from his own body but at the same time, his neck feels like it’s on <em> fire </em>. he backs up into a wall, eyes wide as his breathing quickens in pace, not registering jackie calling out his name in concern and panic.</p><p> </p><p>anti’s here. <em> anti’s here </em> . anti’s here and he’s fucking <em> panicking </em> and not <em> doing anything </em> and leaving jackie alone to fend for himself because he’s too fucking <em> weak </em> . he can’t even bring himself up to help jackie temporarily take down anti. anti’s <em> here </em> and marvin’s too much of a fucking coward to get up, to use his magic to help and fight, anti’s here, anti’s —</p><p> </p><p>“—not here. marv, anti’s not here, i promise.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> what? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>marvin blinks and furrows his eyebrows in confusion — when had they gotten on a rooftop of a building? marvin looks up, settling his confused gaze onto jackie, who’s crouching in front of him with concern in his eyes. he jerks in surprise, eyes widening in slight fear. “wh…?”</p><p> </p><p>“you’re okay,” jackie whispers. he’s holding marvin’s hand and marvin realizes he’s lightly tracing a crescent moon against his palm with his finger over and over. marvin slowly relaxes at the repetitive pattern, glancing around at his surroundings to further ground himself. he notices that jackie’s mask is now off, and that his own mask on the ground next to them. marvin reaches up and carefully ruffles jackie’s hair from under his hood, and jackie lets him despite his constant previous complaints about marvin ruffling his hair. “hey. you with me now?”</p><p> </p><p>“yeah,” marvin whispers, reveling in the soft feeling of jackie’s hair between his fingers, calming down. “yeah. sorry about that…”</p><p> </p><p>“you’re fine, mars, don’t apologize,” jackie reassures softly, and marvin’s lips quirk up into a smile at jackie’s nickname for him ever since he found out marvin was interested in astronomy and astrology. “think you’ll be okay for a minute or two? i’m just gonna go grab something.”</p><p> </p><p>marvin nods and jackie carefully lets go of his hand, and marvin watches as jackie gives him a quick and cheeky salute before hopping off the ledge of the building and flying down. marvin shakes his head fondly, and he brings his hand up to rub at his neck absentmindedly. he sits in silence, getting lost in thought until he sees jackie come back up, stumbling slightly as he lands before going over to marvin and sitting back down next to him.</p><p> </p><p>“i got us some food,” jackie says softly, reaching into the bag and pulling out something. “closest shop had gyros, so i hope you don’t mind. there’s some chips, too.”</p><p> </p><p>“thank you,” marvin mumbles, taking the wrapped gyro from jackie. he watches to make sure that jackie did indeed get something for himself (he forgets about himself <em> much </em> too often for marvin’s liking) and nods approvingly when jackie pulls out his own gyro. </p><p> </p><p>“oh! i also bought you some tea.” jackie fumbles a bit before he grabs a take out cup, handing it to marvin. “it’s peppermint.”</p><p> </p><p>“how thoughtful of you,” marvin muses, smiling with amusement. “perhaps i should get hurt more so you can do sweet things like this more often.”</p><p> </p><p>“you know what, i’m going to take this all back,” jackie warns, but he knocks his shoulder against marvin’s with a small smile. they begin to eat together in silence, looking over the quiet city. eventually, jackie sighs, saying, “marv…”</p><p> </p><p>“go ahead. i know you want to ask.”</p><p> </p><p>“do you get triggered by knives?”</p><p> </p><p>marvin blinks in surprise, slowly setting his cup of tea. <em> oh </em>. he thought jackie was just going to ask if his panic was caused by worrying that it was anti in disguise, not this. “well…”</p><p> </p><p>“fucking— <em> marvin </em> ,” jackie groans, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a deep breath. “are you <em> serious </em>?”</p><p> </p><p>“well, i didn’t take you as one to be invalidating—”</p><p> </p><p>“that’s <em> not </em> what i’m talking about!” jackie hisses. “why didn’t you tell us? <em> god </em>, is that why you find a way to get out of helping with the cooking if it involves chopping or slicing things?”</p><p> </p><p>marvin sheepishly grins at jackie, whose eyes widen even further. “oops…? </p><p> </p><p>“oh my <em> god </em> , marvin. you can’t just—” jackie gestures wildly, worry shining brightly in his eyes. “you can’t just not <em> tell </em>us!”</p><p> </p><p>“it doesn’t <em> matter </em>,” marvin huffs, grabbing a couple chips and shoving them in his mouth. “it wouldn’t have made a difference.”</p><p> </p><p>“for fuck’s sake, marvin, it makes a <em> huge </em> difference if it means we can prevent the possibility of constantly triggering you on accident,” jackie insists. he sighs, shaking his head as he adds, “i’m not mad at you for having a trigger. i’m sure there’s others that you haven’t even mentioned. i’m upset that you didn’t let us know — don’t say it’s fine, it’s <em> not. </em>”</p><p> </p><p>“it’s not that i don’t trust you guys, i just… it’s hard. logically, i know it doesn’t, but it just makes me feel as though i’m <em> weak </em> and i hate that feeling so <em> much </em>,” marvin sighs, scrunching up his nose in disdain. “i hate the panic it causes inside me.”</p><p> </p><p>“i know, but we’re all willing to help out,” jackie says quietly. “you know we don’t leave chase alone to dwell and suffer with his depressive episode, nor do we let henrik deal with anything that could potentially wrap around his neck. jamie’s blissfully unaware of where all the yarns and strings are whenever chase does his occasional knitting, and holy <em> fuck </em> do you guys — thankfully — not leave me alone whenever i’ve had a bad night at patrol or university.”</p><p> </p><p>“jackie—”</p><p> </p><p>“i know you always put up this façade of being the main ‘caretaker’ of the rest of us and shoving down emotions and feelings in favor of helping us, but you can’t bottle that shit up,” jackie pleads, turning to look at marvin, who immediately stares down at his nose to avoid eye contact. “that’s exactly what i’m saying.”</p><p> </p><p>“i’m sorry?”</p><p> </p><p>“you think i haven’t noticed you can’t keep proper eye contact with us anymore?” jackie shakes his head when marvin opens his mouth to apologize. “don’t. it’s <em> fine </em>, honestly. i don’t know what caused that change, and i don’t want to make you talk about it because it’s clearly something traumatic, but can you just maybe tell us all, whenever you’re ready…? or at the very least, tell henrik and he can tell us.”</p><p> </p><p>“... i’ll talk to henrik in the morning,” marvin mumbles, leaning his head against jackie’s shoulder. he picks up his cup of tea again and takes a sip, mulling over his thoughts carefully. “but i don’t think i’ll talk about what <em> exactly </em>happened just yet.”</p><p> </p><p>“that’s okay.” jackie presses his cheek against the top of marvin’s head, mumbling, “sorry if i came off too harsh. i just don’t like that you shoved it all down just to not worry us.”</p><p> </p><p>“no, i get it.” marvin shudders at the feeling of jackie’s cold fingers tapping against the back of his hand, holding out his cup of tea to jackie. “hold this. you’re cold.”</p><p> </p><p>jackie rolls his eyes fondly but takes the cup from marvin anyway. “am i allowed to drink from it, too?”</p><p> </p><p>“don’t you <em> dare </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>“noted!”</p><p> </p><p>it’s silent for a moment longer as they finish their food, but then marvin jolts when jackie lets out a yelp of surprise. jackie wipes his hands and grabs his backpack (marvin blinks in surprise — he hadn’t realized they were on the building they had met up on), rummaging through it and letting out a small “aha!” as he pulls something out. marvin finishes the last of his gyro and wipes his hands with the napkins as he puts his trash away, watching jackie open the packaging curiously. “what is that?”</p><p> </p><p>“jamie showed me this vintage store filled with a bunch of old shit, and i found this.” jackie grins as he manages to get whatever it is out of the package and he hands it to marvin, adding, “it’s this really old-timey fidget toy that’s supposed to mimic planets. i dunno and don’t really care about the science behind it, but you squish it and it changes color. body heat or somethin’. thought you’d like it!”</p><p> </p><p>“that’s… awfully nice of you,” marvin whispers, grabbing the toy from jackie. he squishes it gently, watching as the colors shifted from a blue-green to a deep red and black. “<em> oh </em>. oh, this is nice. thank you, jackie.”</p><p> </p><p>“no problem at all,” jackie says with a wink. “repay me by watching the stars with me?”</p><p> </p><p>marvin chuckles fondly and lays down with jackie, staring up at the night sky. “we’re going to be sore tomorrow. henrik’s going to get mad.”</p><p> </p><p>“henrik always gets mad,” jackie says dismissively, arms under his head. “i’ll take the blame this time. oh, the moon <em> is </em> pretty red.”</p><p> </p><p>marvin looks over at the moon and shudders at how bright and red it is, pressing his finger against the fidget toy. jackie notices and immediately says, “sorry! sorry. hey, the milky way’s pretty visible tonight.” he points up at a random spot at the left side of the galaxy. “what’s that little red area?”</p><p> </p><p>“cat’s paw nebula,” marvin says immediately. “it’s in the scorpius constellation.”</p><p> </p><p>“what about that bright yellow star, down there?”</p><p> </p><p>marvin squints a bit. “antares, i’m pretty sure. fifteenth brightest star in the sky. it’s in a binary system.”</p><p> </p><p>“mhm. what about that spot there, on the right? in that general area?”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>“eagle nebula. the one with the, uh, the pillars of creation. the omega nebula is right to the northwest of it. the eagle nebula is in the serpens constellation.”<br/>
<br/>
“distance?”</p><p> </p><p>“like, 5700 light years.”</p><p> </p><p>“what about that one, near the center?”<br/>
<br/>
“lagoon nebula — it’s in the sagittarius constellation, same as the omega nebula. the other nebulae in that constellation are the trifid nebula, red-spider nebula, and ngc 6559.” marvin flinches, sending a worried glance over at jackie. “sorry.”<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>“why are you apologizing?” jackie frowns, furrowing his eyebrows. “i’m asking these questions! i want to know, i wouldn’t be asking you if i wasn’t interested.”</p><p> </p><p>“you sure?” marvin nervously squeezes the putty in the fidget toy, watching as it slowly changes color. “i don’t wish to be a bother.”</p><p> </p><p>“the only thing you’re bothering me with is how much non-space you’re talking about,” jackie teases. marvin groans with exasperation and hits his shoulder playfully, and jackie yelps out, “yowch! kitty’s can land a strong hit with his paw!”</p><p> </p><p>“if you don’t shut up, i <em> will </em> magic myself some claws and maul your face.”</p><p> </p><p>“oh, but you wouldn’t want to deal with henrik’s wrath, do you?” jackie cackles. “henrik’s gonna come after <em> you </em> next!”</p><p> </p><p>“not if i tell him about how you punched me before your patrol,” marvin warns, eyes glimmering with mirth. “what will <em> you </em> do then, hm? deflect it onto sweet, little me?”</p><p> </p><p>“<em> sweet? </em> ha! you’re one demon of a cat, i tell you!”</p><p> </p><p>“okay, <em> knockoff spiderman </em>.”</p><p> </p><p>“whoa, whoa, <em> whoa! </em> i didn’t insult <em> your </em> powers!”</p><p> </p><p>“my mask <em> is </em> essential with my powers, you dimwit!”</p><p> </p><p>jackie laughs and shifts so that he’s got one arm around marvin’s shoulders, making marvin hiss in mock disgust. “i’m just messing with you, li’l kitty. c’mon, we can just relax and have a good time naming the stars right?”</p><p> </p><p>“i suppose…”</p><p> </p><p>“cool! now, is that betelgeuse?”</p><p> </p><p>“what — that star is <em> white! </em>” marvin splutters in surprise, shock evident on his face. “that’s sirius a!”</p><p> </p><p>“see?” jackie groans dramatically. “i don’t know about any of this! oh, wise astronomy and astrology fanatic, teach me your ways!”</p><p> </p><p>“oh, alright, i’ll teach you more, just don’t be a brat,” marvin grumbles, a small smile on his lips. he settles down with content and points up at the sky, humming, “that’s sirius a. it’s the brightest star in our sky and it’s only 9 light years away…” </p>
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